Director of Government Affairs Austin, TX

Position: Director of Government Affairs at GridMatrix Austin, TX

The Company

At Grid Matrix, we are the market-leading builders of next-generation digital infrastructure. We're a fast growing startup working with cities globally, making them more efficient, safer, and sustainable. You can read more about our recent work in Bloomberg, the Associated Press, and Government Technology.

The Role

Reporting to the COO, The Vice President/Director of Government Affairs will be a leader in Grid Matrix's Government Affairs Organization and coordinate its daily operations. As the VP/Director of Government Affairs, you will be responsible for crafting and communicating the impact a Grid Matrix deployment can have in a community and how this impact supports each of these goals within the context of broader state, local, national, and global regulatory frameworks.

This is a hybrid remote/in-person role based in Austin, Texas. Relocation assistance is available for the right candidate.

Key Responsibilities:

Public Outreach & Representation, Partner Relationship Management, and Media Engagement

• Grow Grid Matrix's relationships with organizational leaders and stakeholders at state, local, national, and international public agencies/private policy organizations
• Manage Grid Matrix's state/local/national government relations partners, translating networking opportunities into commercial impact
• Coordinate across multiple Government Affairs teams at Grid Matrix's private partners, including enterprise cloud/transportation data/LiDAR OEM companies
• Become a trusted advisor to Grid Matrix's public sector customers on the impact of available state and federal government grant funding
• Represent Grid Matrix at industry trade shows and conferences, speak on panels, and be a highly visible senior representative that is strongly associated with Grid Matrix's solutions

Strategy & Thought Leadership

• Design, direct, and execute Grid Matrix's overall government affairs strategy
• Look around corners and identify how government affairs strategy impacts commercial and engineering direction/execution
• Proactively surface and brief policy changes as they pertain to commercial opportunities to executive leadership
• Proactively identify relevant grants, RFPs, accelerators, and test-bed opportunities
• Be Grid Matrix's expert on the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) as well as competitive and formula grant funding
• Map how Grid Matrix's products and features support IIJA funding opportunities and communicate this support to public stakeholders
• Coordinate with Grid Matrix's executive team and engineering leadership, translating RFPs into new product features

Grant/Trade Missions/Accelerator Applications, RFPs Submission

• Drive Grid Matrix's applications for grants, to RFPs, Trade Missions, and accelerators, coordinating the process from origination to submission and leading a cross functional team of customers, partners, government relations firms, policy organizations, Grid Matrix government affairs, and engineering contributors

Own Compliance for Transportation, Privacy Policy, Export, and Cybersecurity

• Understand latest developments in the US & EU with respect to transportation policy and potential to impact core business revenue channels and product
• Privacy policy monitoring and compliance by operation region (e.g. GDPR, domestic state level policies), translating into back-end architecture

Own Special Business Operations/Licenses/Designtations

• Small business, women-owned business, veteran-owned business, etc. where applicable to enhance grant and RFP applications

Project Management

• Bias for action
• Deadlines matter
• Reporting and communication matter

People Management

• Experience growing an organization, hiring, motivating, and retaining highly specialized individuals
• Cross-functional support and interface

X-Factor

• Is a leader, high EQ, great communicator
• Wants to build a market leading product
• Results orientation - can always answer “so what” when they're done
• Mission driven for impact, cares about building something that can touch everyone
• Lifelong learning mentality
• Teamplayer
• Strong critical thinking skills

Minimum Qualifications

• BA/BS in relevant field
• MA/JD/PhD
• 5+ relevant YOE
• Previous experience leading and growing a high…